Suggest a star

[Brisc0]

Hey everyone, thanks for stopping by. I am about ready for a starfish in the next four weeks or so and want something attractive that doesn't get huge and is reefsafe to all my lil pods and corals. Your suggestions are much appreciated.

 

[saltcreep1025]

i like brittle/serpent stars, but they aren't really attractive. They are neat to look at and feed though.

HTH
rosstifer

 

[iservicebox]

you can get a sand sifting starfish, they are white, but generally burrow in the sand. theres also the spiny sea star. i have one of these. they are read and dont grow more than four inches. hope it helps

 

[reefrunner69]

Take a look at the fromia stars.

 

[wrkalot]

I don't mean to hijack the thread but are there any stars suitable for a 75gal fo, cc w/o lr set up?

 

[Guest]

There's the possibility of Linkia stars too.

 

[SquishyFish]

I'm gonna try to hit a few of the questions.

1. sand sifting stars:

If you have a DSB this is a really bad idea. They feed on the in fauna that keeps your DBS functional. The infauna is what shifts the sand around, ingest sand wich removes bacteria and clears the way for new bacteria in addition to being a minor food source for some corals and fish. Any sand sifting fish or invert will decimate the in fauna population. Sand sHifting critters on the other hand are fine. They just move the sand as they scoot across the surface. They are actually considered beneficial because they keep the aerobic areas of the DSB supplied w/ oxygen.

2. CC...not reef safe.

3. Linkia Stars. These stars need a minimum of 100lbs of LR to have an adequate supply of food. They also require high quality water and a very slow acclimation. If your tank is under 6month old or you have less than 100lbs of rock please do not get one of these. The chances are much greater that is will not make it, than that it will.

I would suggest the Red Serpent stars or the Red Feathered stars..They are not nearly as aggressive as the green brittles.

The formia...I dont know anything about them.


Hope that helps

 

[reefrunner69]

stars suitable for a 75gal fo, cc w/o lr set up?

Try a choclate chip starfish, you can feed them meaty foods

 

[Brisc0]

RR, I noticed in your gallery that you have a blue linka, how long did you drip him?

 

[reefrunner69]

I noticed in your gallery that you have a blue linka

Had, I bought it before I knew how much tank and LR it needed to survive, took it about 1 year and 3 mos to starve to death.

I dripped it for 6 hours.

 

[jamal-188]

I recenlty got a blue linkia and a maroon linkia. Dripped them both for 8 hours. The marron made it, the blue disentigrated in less than a week.

 

[Brisc0]

The challenge of the blue linka appeals to me the most, but I will have to do some more research into them. I have 160+ lbs of LR and parameters are stable at:
TEMP: 80
PH: 8.3
SG: 1.025
NO3: 0
NO2: 0
PO4: .1
CA: 450
NH3/NH4: 0
ALK: out of sali tests, but redsea shows it normal for the interim

 

[jamal-188]

Everything looks good on your tank, and you have plenty of LR. The major concern is getting a healthy speciment to begin with. Once they are in the tank and stable they are actually quite hardy.

 

[Brisc0]

The only way I can get my hands on one is going to be via Internet. Anyone know about their shippability?

 

[jamal-188]

The only way I can get my hands on one is going to be via Internet. Anyone know about their shippability?

Not much other than just hit or miss. There's no way to really tell how the supplier acclimated them. I would wait until a warm day and pick up the packed at your local fedex/ups station as soon as they open in the morning. I had my 2 linkia's shipped this was from fishsupply.com As I said before, 1 made it, the other did not. I might suggest liveaquaria.com They have the longest warranty on live purchases I've found anywhere which is 10 days. Hopefully if the star makes it that long it will be ok.

 

[reefrunner69]

The LR needs to be mature, and the tank should be well established, I would recommend no less than 6 months.

 

[Brisc0]

Okay, I may just make that my last addition as I am only 1/2 way there.